UAE and Nepal score emphatic victories while Hong Kong pull of a nail-biting win over Kuwait
By K.R. Nayar
(For the International Cricket Council website). Click https://www.icc-cricket.com/media-releases/3080091
for detailed coverage of the ICC
Under-19 World Cup Asia Qualifiers in Ajman
Ajman. UAE and Nepal recorded assertive victories over Malaysia and Singapore respectively while Hong Kong registered a thrilling one-wicket win over Kuwait on the opening day of the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Asia Qualifier 2023 in Ajman.
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| Hong Kong Under-19 team that pulled off a one-wicket win over Kuwait |
UAE’s out-and-out seven-wicket win over Malaysia displayed their strength in the bowling and batting department. They restricted Malaysia to 121 in 43 overs through brilliant bowling led by the Player of the Match Ammar Badami (2 for 25) and backed by Harit Harish Shetty (2 for 18), Aayan Afzal Khan (2 for 19), Dhruv Parashar (2 for 23) and Harshit Seth (2 for 21). UAE then raced to a seven wicket victory in 17.2 overs through a run-a-ball 48 from Aryan Saxena with six boundaries and one six and his opening partner Aryansh Sharma who scored 47 runs off 29 balls with nine boundaries and a six.
But the exciting match of the day was between Hong Kong and Kuwait. Though Kuwait posted an impressive 212 in 49 over through their skipper Jude Christopher Saldhana’s 89 off 95 balls with 11 boundaries, Hong Kong chased down the target in a last over thriller. The hero of the match was Hong Kong’s Muhammad Mudassar Khan, who literally carried the team on his shoulders to the target through a determined unbeaten knock of 62 off 79 balls with eight boundaries.
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| Nepal's Aaksah Tripathi who cracked 78 runs |
Nepal too recorded an impressive 96 runs win over Singapore. Batting first, Nepal posted 261 for 7 in 50 overs through Aakash Tripathi’s 78 off 100 balls with seven boundaries and one six. Bishal Bikram sthen welled the total through an unbeaten 63 off 54 balls with four boundaries and two sixes. Chasing the target, Singapore could post only 165 for 7 in 50 overs despite Aaryan Modi’s 58 off 100 balls with two boundaries and Sidhanth Srikanth’s 44 off 80 balls with one boundary and six.
UAE’s emphatic seven wicket win over Malaysia
Malaysia won the toss and elected to bat at the Malek Cricket Ground 2. UAE’s opening bowler Harit Harish Shetty struck the first blow in the fourth over trapping opener Sidharth Karthik Rajaratnam leg before for 7 at the score of 9. Harith struck again after Muhammad Hairil Harisan and one-drop Muhammad Akram Abd Malek took the score to 22 when in the eighth over he had Harisan caught by Aryan for 8. At the score of 44, skipper Ayan Afzal got Malek out caught behind by wicketkeeper Aryansh for 11.
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| UAE team scheme to sink Malaysia |
Muhammad Aalif Shamsul Bahrin began to strike well together with Siddharth Neelakantan, and they took the score to 65 in 22.1 overs when Harshit Seth got Neelakantan clean bowled for 3. Bahrin on 32 also got bowled by Harshit for 32. In the 32nd over, Ammar Badami struck twice off successive balls. He had Mohammad Hariz Afnan Sulhie caught by Aryan for 10, and with the next ball, he clean bowled Muhammad Aiman Ridzuan for a duck.
Shivnarin Rahul Rajatnam and Muhammad Syahi Syamael fought hard and took the score past the 100 run mark but at the score on 111, Shivnarin got out to Dhruv Parashar caught by Harshit for 11. Dhruv also got Muhammad Syahi Syamael caught and bowled for 19. Malaysia’s innings ended in 42.6 when Mohammad Faiz Fitri Yusuoff got caught by Dhruv for a duck to give Aayan Afzal his second wicket.
Chasing the moderate total, UAE’s opening pair of Aryan Saxena and Aryansh Sharma put on 94 runs in just 11.2 overs. Shivnarin Rahul Rajatnam ended this partnership by having Aryansh Sharma caught and bowled for 47. His knock came off 29 balls with nine boundaries and a six. Dhruv Parashar joined Aryan Saxena and took the score to 110 when Aryan Saxena got out to Shivnarin Rahul Rajatnam, caught by Siddharth for 48. Six runs later, Dhruv Parashar too fell, caught by Mohammad Hariz Afnan off Muhammad Syahir Syamael for 14. Captain Aayan Afzal hit the winning boundary and remained unbeaten on 5 with Ethan Carl unbeaten on 2.
Speaking about his team’s first match win, Aayan Afzal said: “It was too good to have a winning start. I felt nice captaining the team on a big stage. We will aim to win the rest of the matches too and make it to the World Cup. Our aim is to keep winning all the matches like we did today.”
Ammar Badami, who was adjudged Player of the Match for his fine spell of 2 for 25, said: “Great feeling to win the Man of the Match award in my debut match. It was a bit slow wicket but I bowled on the spot and that helped me get those wickets.”
Brief scores:
UAE Under-19 bt Malaysia Under-19 by 7 wkts. Malayisa 121 in 43 overs (Muhammad Aalif Shamsul Bahrin 32, Harit Harish Shetty 2 for 18, Aayan Afzal Khan 2 for 19, Dhruv Parashar 2 for 23, Ammar Badami 2 for 25, Harshit Seth 2 for 21) UAE 122 for 3 in 17.2 overs (Aryan Saxena 48, Aryansh Sharma 47, Shivnarin Rahul Rajatnam 2 for 16)
Player of the Match: Ammar
Badami
Kuwait won the toss and elected to bat at the Malek Ground 1. They lost their first wicket at the score on 24 when opener Het Kishorebhai Hinsu got caught by Aryan off Daniel Morgan for 5. One-drop Saud Mohammad Sadath and skipper Saldhana took the score to 93 in 17.1 over when Sadath got caught by Parth off Ahan Trivedi for 37. The pair put on 69 runs for the second wicket.
Saldhana accelerated the run flow going for his shots, and along with Jay
Maheshkumar Mehta they added 56 runs for the third wicket. Mohammad Aliyaan
then had Jay Maheshkumar Mehta caught by Darsh to end this partnership. With
the last ball of the same over, Aliyaan had Gautham Mohandas Poolakkal caught
behind by wicketkeeper Ansh Rupesh for a duck. In the 35h over, Ethan Sanjay
Cherian too got out caught by Daniel Morgan off Aliyaan for 2. Jude Christopher
Salhana’s superb knock came to an end when Shiv Mathur had him trapped leg
before for 89.
In the 40th over, Shiv Mathur got Arsh Sahil Kazmi caught by Ahan for a duck. Henry Thomas, who pulled the score to 212 with Yusuf Sadiq Basha, got out to Daniel Morgan, caught by Muhammad Mudassar for 18. With the next ball, Morgan also got Talha Hassan caught and bowled for a duck. Singapore got bowled out for 212 in 48.6 when Morgan picked his fourth wicket by having Janath Jeewanga Herath Liyange caught by Abdul Samad for duck. Yusuf Sadiq Basha remained unconquered on 32 off 43 balls with three boundaries.
Chasing the total, Hong Kong got off to a bad start. They lost opener Ansh Rupesh Doshi trapped leg before by Talha Hassan for 1. Opener Jayden Botfield got caught behind by wicketkeeper Het Kishorebhai off Talha Hassan 3. Shiv Mathur and Parth Bhagwat fought back and put on a 45 runs partnership for the third wicket. Gautam Mohandas provided the breakthrough having Parth Bhagwat caught by Ethan Sanjay for 27. Shiv Mathur too fell clean bowled by Gautam Mohandas for 29. Gautam continued to strike repeatedly and had Abdul Samad Khan caught by Jude Christopher for 19 and he also clean bowled Mohammad Aliyaan Zahir for 5.
Six wickets down for 102, Kuwait went for the kill. Henry Thomas had skipper Ahan Trivedi out trapping him leg before for 14. This was followed by Aryan Chandiramani and Muhammad Mudassar Khan putting up a strong resistance. They took the score to 155 when Aryan Chandiramani got caught behind by Het Kishorebhai off Yusuf Sadiq Basha for 11.
However, Muhammad Mudassar Khan kept the score board along moving with Daniel Morgan Mapp by picking the gaps for twos and singles. In the last ten overs, Hong Kong needed 33 runs with two wickets in hand. Mudassar reached his half century in 66 balls.
The match got exciting with the pair fighting
hard and making it to 18 runs needed off the last five overs. When 12 runs were
needed, at the score on 201, Daniel Morgan got bowled by Saud Mohamed for 10.
He had put on 46 runs for the ninth wicket with Mudassar. Nine from 2 overs and
five from the last over, it put to test the nerves of the young players. The
first delivery from Talha went for two wides and the second delivery was
smashed by Mudsassar to the boundary for a thrilling win.
Mudassar, who was adjudged the Player of the Match, said: “It was a great wicket to bat on. I am glad I took the team to victory. I wasn’t under pressure at all because I was confident I could do it for my team. I am glad we could pull of a great win.”
Brief scores:
Hong Kong Under-19 bt Kuwait Under-19 by
1 wkt. Kuwait 212 in 49 overs (Jude Christopher Saldhana 89, Saud
Mohamed Sadath 37, Jay Maheshkumar Mehta 21, Yusuf Sadiq Basha 32n.o, Daniel
Morgan Mapp 4 for 35, Mohammad Aliyaan Zahir 3 for 16, Shiv Mathur 2 for 44)
Hong Kong 214 for 9 in 49.1 over (Shiv Mathur 29, Parth Bhagwat 27, Muhammad
Mudassar Khan 62n.o, Talha Hassan 2 for 31)
Player of the Match: Muhammad Mudassar Khan
Nepal’s big win over Singapore
Nepal won the toss and elected to bat at the Eden Gardens Oval. Opener Deepak Bohara fell early for 5 caught by Aaryan off Adwitya Bhargava for 5. Arjun Kumal and Aakash Tirpathi put on a 93 runs partnership for the second wicket before Arjun got out clean bowled by Mahiyu Bhatia for 37. This was followed by another partnership of 37 runs for the third wicket before Aakash Tirpathi, who hit a fine 78 runs, fell caught by Adwitya off Abhuday Chhajer. Skipper Dev Khanal hit 21 runs before being trapped leg before by Abhuday Chhajer.
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| Nepal outplay Singapore |
Bishal Bikram then took charge and went for his shots. He took support from the rest of the batsmen to swell the total. Dipak Bohra chipped in with 17 runs before being bwled by Aryaveer Chaudhary. Dipak Prasad Dumre and Bikram took the score past the 200 run mark when at the score on218 Dipak Prasad got run out for 10. Though Milan Bohara got out caught by Rahil off Aryaveer for 4, Subash Bhandari with an unbeaten 12 steered the total past the 250-run mark. In the end, Nepal posted an impressive 261 for 7 in 50 overs.
Chasing the huge total, Singapore lost their opener Rahil Khan caught by Aakash off Hemant Dhami for a duck after he had played out ten deliveries. Opener Arjun Napal got run out for 14. In the 14th over, Mahiyu got caught by Hemant off Subash for 3. Three overs later, Abhuday Chhajer had to retire hurt on 14.
Sidhanth Srikanth and Aaryan Modi fought hard and took the score to 123 in 41.4 overs before Srikanth got out caught by Milan off Subash Bhandari for 44. His knock came off 80 balls with just one boundary and one six. Four runs after this dismissal, Pratham Somani got out caught by Dev off Bishal Bikram for 2. At the score on 158, Hemant Dhami clean bowled Pranav Nitin Maheshwari for 7.
Aaryan Modi got run out for 58 with only two balls remaining in the match. In the end they could muster only 165 for 7 in 50 overs.
Brief scores:
Nepal Under -19 bt Singapore Under by 96 runs.
Nepal 261 for 7 in 50 overs (Arjun Kumal 37, Aakash Tirpathi 78, Dev Khannal
21, Bishal Bikram 63n.o, Aryaveer Chaudhary 2 for 53, Abhuday Chhajer 2 for
63). Singapore 165 for 7 in 50 overs (Sidhanth Srikanth 44, Aaryan Modi 58,
Hemant Dhami 2 for 27, Subash Bhandari 2 for 29)
Player of the Match: Aakash Tirpathi
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